ARMEN YERITSIAN APPOINTED FIRST DEPUTY OF THE CHIEF OF THE POLICE
ARMENPRESS
June 4, 2008
YEREVAN, JUNE 4, ARMENPRESS: Armenian President Serzh Sargsian signed
today a decree dismissing Ararat Mahtesian from the office of the
first deputy of the chief of the police.
Presidential press service reported that with another decree the
president appointed Armen Yeritsian first deputy of the chief of
the police dismissing him from the office of the deputy chief of
the police.
REPRESENTATIVES OF AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS MEET IN ISTANBUL
Azeri Press Agency
June 3 2008
Azerbaijan
Baku. Mahbuba Gasimbayli-APA. Forum "Conflicts and democratization"
was held on the initiative of International Alert organization in
Istanbul, Turkey.
Members of Azerbaijani and Armenian nongovernmental organizations,
representatives of Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of Nagorno
Karabakh attended the forum. Human Rights defender Saida Gojamanli
told APA that along with her, heads of Azerbaijani NGOs – Novella
Jafaroghlu, Arzu Abdullayeva, Seadet Benenyarli, Zerdusht Alizadeh,
Ali Abbasov, representative of Nagorno Karabakh’s Azerbaijani community
Karim Karimli also attended the forum. Saida Gojamanli said that the
forum mainly focused on the role of civil society and democratization
in the settlement of Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.
"The participants also exchanged views on the post-election situation
in Armenia and pre-election situation in Azerbaijan. One of the most
interesting points for us was that the representatives of Armenian
community of Nagorno Karabakh offered Azerbaijani community to return
to their lands. They noted that referendum could be held in Nagorno
Karabakh only after that", she said.
The Human Rights defender said it was planned to hold the next meeting
in August.
TER-PETROSYAN STARTS THE SECOND STAGE OF "EVACUATION"
Vrezh Aharonyan
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on June 03, 2008
Armenia
The opinion that L. Ter-Petrosyan will leave Armenia should his
political programs fail has been expressed in our reality many times.
Anyway, Ter-Petrosyan has started the second stage of family
evacuation. It is already an obvious fact that as a result of the
first stage of the evacuation, his son David Ter-Petrosyan left the
country and has been in the United States and the United Arab Emirates
since December 2007 and is now going to implement a permanent business
program with those countries.
By the way, L. Ter-Petrosyan and his closest people never gave
convincing arguments to explain why the son of a man who pursued a
principal goal to unite the youth with their motherland decided to
leave Armenia.
As a matter of fact, L. Ter-Petrosyan is doing just the contrary. After
solving the problem of his son’s permanent residence in the United
States and settling his business affairs, the ex-President has decided
to send to him the other family members – his wife, daughter-in-law
and grandchildren.
We have reliable information that the US Embassy in Armenia has
issued entry visas to L. Ter-Petrosyan’s wife, daughter-in-law and
grandchildren who are leaving for the United States in a couple of
days for an indefinite period of time.
What does this testify to? Only to the fact that L. Ter-Petrosyan
has made sure that he is in a deadlock, and the struggle he has
initiated has no prospects and eventually, he will be forced to leave
Armenia. The option of escaping from Armenia (it is impossible to
characterize and estimate the above-mentioned plans related to the
ex-President’s family otherwise) has always been on L. Ter-Petrosyan’s
mind.
It is noteworthy that after going to the United States with her
daughter-in-law and grandchildren and staying there for some time,
Lyudmila Ter-Petrosyan (the same Lyudmila Frayimovna Pliskovskaya)
will leave for France (according to some rumors) and carry out some
organizational work in Paris with the purpose of moving her husband
to France. In short, she will prepare for moving L. Ter-Petrosyan
out of Armenia as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, L. Ter-Petrosyan’s decision of leaving Armenia
with his family became more real after he realized that no extreme
sanctions are likely to be applied in relation to Armenia as a result
of discussing Resolution # 1609 in the PACE summer session at the
end of June. Whereas, L.
Ter-Petrosyan and his closest people want Armenia to be deprived of
the right to vote at least for a period of 6 months. Otherwise, the
ex-President and his team will no longer have any political tasks
in our country since it will become clear that all they needed was
to come to power through revolutions and clashes (Karapet Roubinyan
confirmed this in his last press-conference, estimating the country’s
current situation as an ‘interrupted revolution’).
L. Ter-Petrosyan’s plans to come to power fell flat; therefore the
most convenient and secure option is to escape from Armenia with his
family. And this is what the ex-President has been doing during the
recent days.
Let’s also add that the center of the "pan-national" movement has
already informed the public that it is preparing new revolutionary
scenarios for June 20-23. Furthermore, L. Ter-Petrosyan is convinced
that it is necessary to act more aggressively on June 23 than during
the incidents of March 1. And this may naturally lead to graver
consequences.
Now it’s clear why the ex-President is strictly concerned about
"evacuating" his family members from Armenia.
AZERBAIJAN CAPABLE TO RELEASE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES THROUGH MILITARY WAY
ANS
03.06.2008 18:12
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said during visit to Nakhchivan.
Ilham Aliyev, president of Azerbaijan has visited Nakhchivan Autonous
Republic on June 3. The President first attended opening ceremony
of 62-bed Central Hospital of Julfa region, ANS PRESS correspondent
informs. Speaking to the attendants, President Aliyev expressed his
satisfaction with development of healthcare system of the AR.
Touching energy security issues of Nakhchivan the President said the
AR would be fully provided with natural gas soon.
"There will be built special gas reservoirs in Nakhchivan to provide
continues provision of the AR with gas. Besides, there is no problem
in energy supply of the region. Producing enough energy, Nakhchivan
also aids to neighbouring Turkey in energy issue," stressed President
Aliyev.
President also considered it important to improve military power of
the AR.
Speaking about Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Daqliq Qarabaq and
ways of solution, Azerbaijani President said the Army of Azerbaijan is
always capable to release occupied territories of Azerbaijan through
military way.
After, the President attended opening of Military Unit N.
ARMENIAN CELLULAR COMMUNICATION THIRD OPERATOR TENDER TO BE ANNOUNCED IN JUNE OR JULY
PanARMENIAN.Net
03.06.2008 16:26 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia’s Deputy Minister of Transport and
Communications Vruyr Arakelyan informed that the tender for third
cellular communication operator will be announced in June or July.
The essential documents will be prepared within a week, according
to him.
"The package will be conveyed to the government, which will fix the
reserve price. Afterwards, an official announcement will be published,"
he said.
"Companies from Russia, Iran and European states bid for the Armenian
cell market," he added, IA Regnum reports.
PARLIAMENTARY HEARINGS ON MASS MEDIA ACTIVITY
Lena Badeyan
"Radiolur"
04.06.2008 18:01
As a result of the constitutional amendments, the necessary emerged
to regulate the activity of mass media. Currently the sphere is
regulated by five laws, part of which needs to be amended. Besides,
it is noted in PACE Resolution #1609 that attention should be paid
to the procedure of forming the independent body controlling the
sphere. The activity of broadcasting media is today regulated by
the Council of Public Television and Radio Company headed by Alexan
Harutyunyan and the National Commission on Television and Radio headed
by Grigor Amalyan. Specialist of the sphere gathered at the National
Assembly today to clarify through parliamentary hearings what kind
of legislative changes are necessary to improve the activity of
mass media.
President of the Council of Television and Radio Company Alexan
Harutyunyan suggests implementing the institution of the Ombudsman in
the filed of mass media. Works in this direction are underway with
experts of the Council of Europe, Alexan Harutyunyan informed the
MPs during today’s parliamentary hearings.
In general, according to the President of the Council of Public
Television and Radio Company, it’s necessary to work out mechanisms
of regulating the sphere of activity of mass media, which will
exclude or minimize the negative phenomena we observed during the
past years. These changes should be global and toward that end
it is necessary to hold discussions, featuring representatives of
international organizations and local media institutions.
However, before that it is necessary to implement several changes in
the laws, Alexan Harutyunyan considers. His suggestion on the procedure
of forming the regulating body coincides with the proposals included
in the PACE Resolution.
Among the primary amendments Alexan Harutyunyan pointed to the
procedure of forming the Council of Public Television and Radio Company
and the National Commission on Television and Radio. The Constitution
envisages that half of members of the Commission should be appointed by
RA President and half -by the National Assembly. However, according to
Mr. Harutyunyan, it’s necessary to further clarify these procedures,
and it’s necessary to work out mechanisms that will make this body
more independent.
For that purpose he suggested to ban all eight members of the
Commission from having another job expect for scientific and academic
activity.
Currently only the President and Vice-President of the Commission
are staff members, others work on a voluntary basis. They are often
employees of agencies and directly depend on those.
Alexan Harutynyan suggested that all members of the Commission be
selected through competition. For that purpose, it is necessary
to consolidate some principles in the law. In particular, state
officials should not be included in the jury. The competition for
choosing the members of both the Council of Public TV and Radio
Company and the National Commission on Television and Radio should
be open, and the winner of the competition should be appointed to the
position. According to Alexan Harutyunyan, the procedure should make
the body more independent.
The financing of the Public Television and Radio Company is also
considered a factor of independence, and the European experts
noted that the existing mechanism does not provide for bases of
financial independence. Deferent models have been suggested. Alexan
Harutyunyan suggests that the Public TV and Radio Company may form
its budget independently and present to the National Adherently
through Government.
During today’s hearings the Deputies, journalists and experts listened
to about ten specialists representing organizations engaged in the
field of mass media. Their suggestions will also be considered in
the legislative amendments.
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
May 29 2008
Araz Azimov: `Ensurance of self-governing status of population to live
in Nagorno Karabakh is a compromise from Azerbaijan’
[ 29 May 2008 13:31 ]
Baku. Tamara Grigorieva-APA. `Armenia should leave its extreme
position – claim for separation of Nagorno Karabakh from Azerbaijan’,
said Araz Azimov, Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, APA reports.
He said next steps toward the solution of the conflict depended on the
principal positions of the sides. Azimov said the meeting of
Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents in June in St.-Petersburg had a
goal to clarify the position of Armenian new leadership. Responding
the question `Do you believe that Sarkisian will show constructive
position’, the Deputy Minister said: `Hope springs eternal’.
Araz Azimov said the principal position of Azerbaijan was bringing the
situation in Nagorno Karabakh under the vertical control of
Azerbaijan. `However, ensurance of self-governing status of population
to live in Nagorno Karabakh is a compromise from Azerbaijan’.
Today.Az, Azerbaijan
May 30 2008
Araz Azimov: "No country in the world has supported Armenia’s position
on the issue of Nagorno Karabakh"
29 May 2008 [16:50] – Today.Az
Azerbaijan’s principal position is restoration of control over the
situation in Nagorno Karabakh, said deputy Foreign Minister of
Azerbaijan Araz Azimov.
He said the compromise from the side of Azerbaijan would be the
provision of the self-government status to communities to live in
Nagorno Karabakh.
"The compromise to which Azerbaijan is ready is important. In this
connection, we have a right to expect compromises from the opposite
side. For this purpose, Armenia should reject its position which
envisions separation of Nagorno Karabakh from Azerbaijan", said he.
Azimov noted that only in this case can the party come to an
agreement.
At the same time, deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan announced that
Armenia’s position is unacceptable with respect to international law
and no country has supported the position of this country on the
Nagorno Karabakh issue.
"Yerevan’s understanding would be of great importance", said he.
/Day.Az/
URL:
ARMENPRESS
PRESIDENT SERZH SARKISIAN SIGNS INTO LAW TWO BILLS
YEREVAN, MAY 30, ARMENPRESS: On May 29 President
Serzh Sarkisian signed into law bills on making
changes to the Law on Property Tax and to the Law on
Land Tax, passed earlier by the parliament.
This was said to Armenpress by the presidential
pres service.
The FINANCIAL, Georgia
May 31 2008
Analysis: Is Georgian Opposition Still Force To Be Reckoned With?
31/05/2008 10:42
The FINANCIAL — The Georgian parliamentary elections on May 21 gave
President Mikheil Saakashvili ‘s United National Movement for a
Victorious Georgia a constitutional majority in the new legislature,
but appear only to have perpetuated the political polarization that
resulted from the crackdown on opposition supporters last November and
the disputed preterm presidential ballot on January 5.
As in January, Saakashvili claimed victory for his party before all
votes were counted, on the basis of preliminary returns and exit
polls, while opposition leaders alleged that the outcome of the ballot
(in which only some 55 percent of the electorate bothered to cast
their votes) was falsified. Two of the three opposition parties that
won parliamentary representation under the proportional system
subsequently vowed to boycott the working of a parliament they
consider lacking legitimacy and to establish an alternative
parliament.
Meanwhile, international monitors concluded that not all problems
identified during the January 5 presidential election were rectified,
and termed the May 21 vote "not perfect" and not a true reflection of
Georgia’s "democratic potential."
The preliminary official results of the ballot, made public on May 23,
gave Saakashvili ‘s party a total of 120 of the 150 mandates, 49 of
the 75 distributed under the proportional system and 71 of the 75
single-mandate constituencies. The nine parties aligned in the United
Opposition coalition won 16 seats (14 proportional, two majoritarian);
the Labor Party and the recently created Christian Democratic Movement
— six proportional seats each; and the opposition Republicans — two
seats in single-mandate constituencies.
That outcome represented an unpalatable defeat above all for the
moderate Republican Party, which had sought to portray itself as a
less radical and more constructive alternative than the sometimes
strident and maximalist United Opposition coalition.
Yet both the distribution of votes and the level of voter
participation closely parallel that in the January 5 presidential
ballot, in which Saakashvili polled 53.47 percent and Levan
Gachechiladze of the United Opposition 25.6 percent, followed by
now-deceased exiled oligarch Badri Patarkatsishvili (7.1 percent) and
Labor Party leader Shalva Natelashvili (6.49 percent). It thus seems
that some opposition voters who opted in January for Gachechiladze or
Patarkatsishvili transferred their support to the new Christian
Democratic Movement, while others voted for the ruling party.
Opposition Boycott Questioned
The nine opposition parties aligned in the United Opposition coalition
rejected the official returns as rigged and announced on May 23 they
would not participate in the working of a legislature whose members
Conservative Party leader Kakha Kukadze claimed were handpicked by
Saakashvili , civil.ge reported. They further pledged to campaign for
the annulment of the vote and the holding of new elections, as they
had done, without success, in the wake of the disputed January
presidential poll.
Labor Party leader Shalva Natelashvili said on May 23 that his party
would join the proposed boycott, but one of its elected deputies,
Nugzar Ergemlidze, was quoted by Caucasus Press on May 24 as saying he
feels bound to protect the interests of his voters.
Giorgi Targamadze, leader of the Christian Democratic Movement, the
third opposition group to win parliamentary representation under the
proportional system, argued on May 22 that "We have been given
parliamentary mandates by 200,000 of our voters, who cast their ballot
for us and tasked us with implementation of concrete steps," Caucasus
Press reported. The following day, Targamadze similarly said, "we
should not go to extremes" and that "all resources should be used,"
meaning the chance, however slim, to influence the legislative
process, civil.ge reported.
On May 28, Pikria Chikhradze, a leading member of the United
Opposition, told journalists that those of its candidates who won
election will nonetheless comply with all the formal requirements,
including undergoing a drug test, needed to take possession of their
mandates, Caucasus Press reported.
Addressing some 10,000 people who rallied outside the parliament
building on May 26, United Opposition leader Gachechiladze,
Saakashvili ‘s main challenger in the January presidential ballot,
issued an ultimatum to the authorities to annul the outcome of the May
21 vote, failing which he pledged continued protests and a boycott of
the new parliament. He further said the opposition "will not let a
handful of criminals run the country," and appealed to the rally
participants to reassemble on June 10 and form a human chain around
the parliament building to prevent the new parliament convening for
its first session.
But at its May 26 session, the Central Election Commission annulled
the results only from 26 of the 3,604 polling stations, Caucasus Press
reported. As of May 29, the results at 13 more polling stations have
been annulled, according to civil.ge.
Speaking on May 26 at a joint press conference in Tbilisi with
visiting Polish President Lech Kaczynski, President Saakashvili
invited the opposition to engage in "dialogue," stressing that "the
minority should respect the will of the majority," and that "the
parliament has been elected…[and] will defend the interests of the
whole of Georgia regardless of whether some people voted for it or
not," civil.ge reported.
Lack Of Dialogue
He did not repeat his offer of May 20 to work more closely with the
new parliament, and to "spare no efforts to ensure that the opposition
plays a more active role in the process of ruling the country, to
reduce polarization and confrontation in our politics, to make
meetings and negotiations more fruitful and desirable for everyone,
rather than protest rallies." Nor did he offer, as his Armenian
counterpart Serzh Sarkisian did in the wake of the disputed February
21 Armenian presidential election, to forge a government of national
reconciliation.
The United Opposition immediately rejected Saakashvili ‘s offer of
dialogue: leading Conservative Party member Zviad Dzidzugiri told
journalists that "we have nothing to discuss with a president who
rigged the elections and deprived the Georgian people of the right to
vote for the leadership they want," Caucasus Press reported.
Parallel to the boycott, the Republican and Labor parties and eight of
the nine parties aligned in the United Opposition bloc plan to convene
an alternative parliament, which will be based in the former election
headquarters in Tbilisi of the New Rightists, who belong to the United
Opposition. But Paata Davitaia announced on May 27 that the small
Chven Tviton (We Ourselves) party he heads does not support the idea
of an alternative parliament and for that reason will quit the
opposition coalition, Caucasus Press reported.
Nor is it clear either what the opposition hopes to achieve through
the alternative legislature, or how an opposition boycott will impact
on the work of the parliament elected on May 21. True, the idea of a
boycott is not new: several opposition parties boycotted parliament
for several months two years ago. But a long-term boycott could lead
to a loss of both visibility and credibility among the parties
involved, as has proven the case in Azerbaijan, where the opposition
Azadliq bloc refused its handful of parliament mandates to protest
egregious fraud in the November 2005 parliamentary election.
The daily "Rezonansi" on May 26 quoted election-law expert Vakhtang
Khmaladze, an unsuccessful Republican Party candidate in a Tbilisi
constituency, as observing that a total opposition boycott would call
into question the legitimacy of the new parliament insofar as it would
focus attention on the opposition’s motives, namely what he termed
grave procedural violations on polling day. Possibly for that reason,
several leading National Movement members and one government minister
have slammed both the proposed parliament boycott and the concept of
an alternative parliament.
Already on May 23, former Foreign Minister David Bakradze, the first
name on the United National Movement party list and thus the obvious
candidate for the post of parliament speaker, decried the proposed
boycott as irresponsible, civil.ge reported. He added that the
National Movement is prepared to begin talks with the opposition on
the distribution of parliamentary posts.
On May 24, Giorgi Gabashvili, one of the National Movement’s
representatives on the Central Election Commission, argued that an
opposition boycott would be tantamount to betraying the trust of the
320,000 voters who cast their ballots for the opposition, and that it
reflects the "low political culture" of the opposition parties in
question, Caucasus Press reported. State Minister for Regional Issues
David Tkeshelashvili was quoted on May 27 by Caucasus Press as
branding the idea of an alternative parliament "very dangerous," and
he warned that it could "throw the country back 15 years."
In the final analysis, however, the opposition’s options are limited,
and some of its members may consider they committed a major strategic
error in January in yielding to pressure from U.S. Deputy Assistant
Secretary of State Matthew Bryza to abandon their campaign for the
annulment of the presidential election results and treat the
parliamentary vote as a surrogate runoff between the ruling party and
the opposition.
In a trenchant analysis of the Georgian political situation three
years ago, commentator Ghia Nodia made two crucial points that are
still relevant today. He noted that the Georgian opposition was weak
not only because it was divided and had few parliament mandates, but
because it lacked popular leaders and ideas capable of mobilizing the
population at large. (The United Opposition’s parliamentary election
campaign focused primarily on the need to replace what its members
consider a corrupt and inept leadership.)
Consequently, Nodia continued, the opposition pinned its hopes on, and
sought to capitalize on, public dissatisfaction with government
policy, a tactic that Saakashvili and Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze
have countered by adopting in the wake of the January presidential
ballot a government program explicitly designed to reduce poverty and
unemployment.
And second, Nodia pointed to a "communication breakdown" within the
political elite in which government and opposition "simply do not
speak to each other anymore," with politicians instead engaging in
"monologues" that frequently stoop to the realm of personal
insults. In that respect, the current postelection polarization in
Georgia could prove pernicious insofar as the one figure who sought
tirelessly to bridge the gulf between the authorities and the
opposition, former parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze, declined to
seek reelection.
By RFE/RL analyst Liz Fuller